My problem is that I'm 6'4" and most airplane seats only come to my shoulders so there is no where for my head. And I can't slide down far enough because there's no where for my legs.

If I'm in first class, a bulk head row, or an exit row, then I generally have no problem at all because I can slide down far enough in my seat to lean my head back against the seat. But in a coach seat, forget it. Can't sleep without severe discomfort in my neck.

The one notable exception is if I'm on a CRJ900. They have adjustable headrests that slide up and just a smidge of extra legroom. Barely detectable but it's there. The headrests plus the legroom allows me to slide down enough to lean my head on the headrest, and I can fall asleep.

Jason

I'm a firm believer in Ambien. Unfortunately I don't have any for my 13 hour flight to SVO tomorrow, so I'm thinking I'll pop a couple of Flexeril I have laying around. Might keep my back from hurting in the process. The biggest thing that keeps me from sleeping for long is turbulence. I'm a shift worker, so I sleep very lightly to begin with. Even with earplugs, eye mask, and being doped up on one medication or another, the slightest turbulence brings me bolt upright.

I take the sleeping pills that my doctor prescribes. I swallow them when I'm
waiting for my flight in the airline lounge. Once airborn, I fall asleep like a
baby and dont' wake up until 8 hours later. 8 hours of pure sleep is golden
on the 14-hour nonstop flights that I take every month.

(although once a flight attendant freaked out because she couldn't wake
me up for breakfast somewhere over the Pacific Ocean)

Same for me - short of getting a lie-flat seat, I am doomed. When, of when, is UA going to upgrade their trans-pacific 747 C-class!:mad:

In the good old days when there were a lot more flights and empty seats, it was better for me to be in economy, where I often found an entire middle seat bank that I could collapse in. Of course, I have not seen this empty seat plane in the last 6 or so years...

I have the same problem. And barring flying F with flat beds there is not much of a solution. I can sleep for a 2-3 hours at a time but then generally wake up, even with taking sleeping aides, having a few drinks (probably not the best combination) and using the small and nasty pillows and blankets the best that I can to make myself comfortable. I am not that big of a person, about 140 pounds, so I try to make by seat area a little cocoon, however, that is not always practical when a 300 pound troll is spilling over into your seat (the joys of flying in Y:().)

When flying International, I just accept that the first day I will be a total waste case and therefore plan nothing accordingly.

markum9 welcome to flyertalk.^:):-:

I have only flown twice once from Birmingham Al. to Okinawa Japan and then from Bir. to Las Vegas. The Japan trip with time of lay overs was a total of 23 hrs. I took Ambien and used wax ear plugs which are much more comfortable then the others. I slept for 8 hours on the longest leg of the flight with using both of these. I don't like to use the eye masks or noise reducing headphones.

Because I am disabled I usually set in the economy plus area which gives me more room. I have my left leg amputated and my prosthesis does not allow me to pull my leg out of other peoples way when they need to get up. For this reason I sit on an aisle seat to make it easier to get up but it also makes me have to get up a lot.

On my trip to Las Vegas it was only 3.5 hrs. so I did not sleep but because I sat in the first row I had plenty of leg room. (SW).

I hope this forum is what you need for your class.

I am always looking, that I don't sleep too much the night before on a night flight, so that I am really tired and then I can sleep on the plane.

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.51 Beta (Microsoft Windows; PPC; Opera Mobi/1718; U; en))

If I am lying flat, I can fall aslep pretty fast. However, since I'm flying on my own dime, I'm stuck in Y.

I need it to be cool for me to be comfy.

I tried noise-cancelling headphones on some of my dozen or so redeyes last year and decided not to use them for a few reasons.

First-- you can't lean on anything comfortably.
Second-- they're very bulky and take up too much space in my bag and I like to travel light.

Earplugs are great, but I sometimes have ear problems and can only put them on at cruising altitude.

Eye shades help if they are comfy, most airlines' aren't.

I wish there was something that could fix my head in place in a Y seat.

For some reason, I *loathe* sleeping in a position where me feet aren't level with at least some part of my body. When flying in Y my preferred solution on long-haul flights is to ask the GA for a seat with no neighbour, but when that's not possible or when it's a short, full flight and I still want to get a bit of rest I either: a) make kind of a blanket sling that I tuck my feet in, so they're hanging off over the edge of the seat but nowhere close to touching the floor or c) craftily engineer a quasi-platform out of books or magazines that sticks out from the seat pocket in front of me that I can gently rest my fest on without bothering the person in front. You could invent a proper version of this that sits in the seat pocket at one end and rests on the front of the seat in the other, giving shrimpies like me (I'm only 5'6 and have little wee legs, which is why those sleep tricks work for me) some extra room to curl their legs up.

If you invent that, send me one :D

I’m at the point now where I can power nap on a flight, or even sitting upright in a noisy terminal. All I need are foam earplugs and sunglasses.

Funny thing is, I can’t nap at home or in a hotel room.

I fly mostly long distance red eyes. Getting my feet elevated helps me get to sleep. If I am lucky enough to have one empty seat by me, I feel really lucky. With a whole row, I am the lap of luxury. I have recently started putting a blanket over my head - like putting a bird to sleep in its cage. The blanket keeps out the light and softens the noise. I'm sure I look funny but hey it works for me.

Im also tallish (6'2") - and have always found it hard to sleep. On my last long haul I used a travel pillow (those ugly horse-show shape things round your neck) for the first time and ear plugs - and slept really well.

Not a fan of sleeping pills, but have used motion sickness pills to make me more sleepy as well.

Just a suggestion on the sleeping pills -- test it one night while you're on the ground. You don't want to find out you have a bad reaction at 35,000 feet.

It is a very good idea to try out the sleeping pill before flying. The reaction can be fatal. I have a niece that took an Ambien which caused her blood pressure to drop to 90/40. Luckily they were close to a airport and were able to get her down and start treatment before her B/P got lower.

Yep, just like drinking alcohol on the aircraft, you may have a quicker or unexpected reaction I suppose.